This Wednesday, Bogotá received the One City Planet Challenge award, granted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The award recognizes the efforts of the Colombian capital, its Climate Action Plan, and its clear objectives in reducing emissions, together with the migration to clean and renewable energies. Two-hundred and eighty cities from 50 countries around the world participated in the competition.
"We are grateful not only for the recognition and the award, but also for the general support that WWF, Sweden, and different countries around the world are providing to Bogotá when it comes to the technical aspects required to achieve our Climate Action Plan (PAC, as per the acronym in Spanish)," said Mayor Claudia López, after receiving the award.
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Below is a tweet in which Mayor López, thanked the World Wildlife Fund for presenting Bogotá with the 'City Challenge' award:
Gracias a @WWFCities por elegir a Bogotá como ganadora del #OnePlanetCityChallenge entre más de 280 ciudades de 50 países participantes. Un honor este reconocimiento a nuestro Plan de Acción Climática y al liderazgo en la mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático. pic.twitter.com/D7yNvIL0bd
— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) June 29, 2022
The PAC was built on scientific knowledge and is based on 30 major mitigation and adaptation actions, with a 30-year vision approach to reduce emissions by 15 percent by 2024, and 50 percent by 2030, with a further goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Some of the clear objectives integrated in the PAC include increasing green areas, implementing nature-based solutions, and promoting environmentally responsible production and consumption, sustainable mobility, and changing habits.
The award was presented by the Director of the WWF Cities Program, Anthony Pearce, who highlighted the district administration's efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as stipulated in the PAC.
Pearce emphasized that this recognition is "an encouragement for Bogotá to continue its future efforts to achieve a sustainable planet for all.”
The challenge, in which 280 cities from 50 countries participated, aims to mobilize cities to develop strategies to thrive in balance with nature and meet the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.
Following, a tweet from WWF Cities announcing the winners of the One Planet City Challenge 2022:
This year, 280 cities from over 50 countries competed in the One Planet City Challenge. #Bogotá, Colombia and #Lund, Sweden have been selected as the 2022 Global Winners of WWF’s OPCC.
— WWF Cities (@WWFCities) May 30, 2022
Congratulations - @Bogota & @Lundskommun !@Ambientebogotahttps://t.co/zPSDLwZvb3pic.twitter.com/mnIIdehiHJ
A panel of 21 experts in urban sustainability was in charge of reviewing different challenges and selected Bogotá as the winner. In this regard, the jury mainly praised the political commitment to addressing the climate crisis, the assessment of risk and vulnerability to climate change, and the city’s ambitious long-term adaptation goals (2050).
It is worth remembering that climate change has been a priority since the arrival of Mayor Claudia López. For this reason, one of the major steps taken by this Administration is the design and presentation of the Climate Action Plan (PAC), a roadmap with a 30-year vision to reduce emissions by 15% by 2024 and 50% by 2030, with a further goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The PAC was built on scientific knowledge and is based on 30 major mitigation and adaptation actions, focused on increasing green areas, implementing nature-based solutions, and promoting environmentally responsible production and consumption, sustainable mobility, and changing habits.
In line with this progress, the District Administration presented the public with the Climate Risk Assessment, which, for the first time, was carried out at the scale of planning units for rural and urban areas, to learn about how climate change affects the city and about possible threats that could affect Bogotá in the future.
Finally, the day in Stockholm also included a visit to the Högbytorp cogeneration power plant (CHP), with the aim of inspecting waste treatment models used in other countries in preparation for the waste-to-heat plant announced by the Mayor, which is included in the Land Use Plan.
Mayor López also met with representatives of Smart City Sweden and Fossil Free Sweden to discuss strategies for sustainable development and mobility, together with the consolidation of green, inclusive, and people-centered cities.
